MURPHY CONCERN
Donegal star may miss Championship opener
DONEGAL cap - tain Mi c h a e l Murphy looks set to miss his side’s crunch finalround Allianz Football League clash with Armagh and could f ace a race against time to be fit for the start of their Ulster t i t l e defence against Cavan on May 20. After he underwent a scan at the Dublin Sports Clinic on Monday following a knee injury which he picked up in Saturday night’s defeat to Dublin, Murphy yesterday underwent surgery to try and fix the problem.
While the Donegal camp were remaining tight-lipped, the fact that Murphy required surgery to deal with the injury he sus- tained when he collided with Dublin defender Johnny Cooper at Croke Park almost certainly rules him out of the Easter Sunday clash with the Orchard county.
That game in Ballyshannon has been billed as a relegation clash, with Donegal second from bottom in Division 1, on four points, j ust one behind Armagh.
But Murphy’s absence would be a r eal blow to t he Tír Chonaill men’s chances of staying up as they struggled desperately in his absence in the opening two rounds, when the full-forward was sidelined after undergoing surgery to deal with a groin injury.
His return transformed the team’s fortunes, as he produced a string of performances that saw him n a med a s man of the match in three of the four games since his comeback, including the defeat to the AllIreland champions.
In those four games he kicked 2-19, and in the one match that he did not earn the man-of-thematch gong, he still managed to score 1- 5 against Kerry, scored by Murphy in four league games this year. underlining his reputation as the most in-form attacker at present.
With Donegal’s other principal strike f o r ward Col m Mcfadden struggling with a hamstring injury, it leaves team manager Jim Mcguinness with an attacking crisis ahead of his team’s biggest league game of the season.
But of greater concern to the Donegal manager is the long-term fitness of his main player with his team little over seven weeks away from beginning the defence of the Anglo Celt Cup.
Meanwhile, Mayo are resigned to being without midfielder Seamus O’shea (hamstring) and Lee Keegan (dead leg) for Saturday night’s rescheduled match against Dublin, but welcome back O’shea’s younger brother Aidan, after a twogame suspension.
It is also understood that the Feeney brothers, Richie and Alan, who were dropped for disciplinary reasons f or l ast Sunday’s defeat to Mayo, will be considered for selection this week.